Lighthouse Tender) Page 1 United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
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MARITIME HERITAGE OF THE UNITED STATES NHL THEME STUDY LARGE VESSELS NFS Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) 0MB No. 1024-0018 FIR (Lighthouse Tender) Page 1 United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 1. NAME OF PROPERTY Historic Name: Fir Other Name/Site Number: U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Fir (WLM 212) 2. LOCATION Street & Number: 1519 Alaskan Way, South Not for publication: City/Town: Seattle Vicinity: State: WA County: King Code: 033 Zip Code: 98134-1192 3. CLASSIFICATION Ownership of Property Category of Property Private:__ Building(s):__ Public-local:__ District:__ Public-State: Site: Public-Federal; X Structure; X Object: Number of Resources within Property Contributing Noncontributing ____ ____ buildings ____ ____ sites 1 ____ structures ____ ____ objects 1 0 Total Number of Contributing Resources Previously Listed in the National Register; 0 Name of related multiple property listing: N/A NFS Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) 0MB No. 1024-0018 FIR (Lighthouse Tender) Page 2 United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 4. STATE/FEDERAL AGENCY CERTIFICATION As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1986, as amended, I hereby certify that this ___ nomination ___ request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property ___ meets ___ does not meet the National Register Criteria. Signature of Certifying Official Date State or Federal Agency and Bureau In my opinion, the property ___ meets ___ does not meet the National Register criteria. Signature of Commenting or Other Official Date State or Federal Agency and Bureau 5. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE CERTIFICATION I, hereby certify that this property is: ___ Entered in the National Register __________ ___ Determined eligible for the _______________ National Register ___ Determined not eligible for the ___________ National Register ___ Removed from the National Register _________ ___ Other (explain): _______________________ Signature of Keeper Date of Action NFS Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) 0MB No. 1024-0018 FIR (Lighthouse Tender) Page 3 United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 6. FUNCTION OR USE Historic: Transportation Sub: Water-related Current: Transportation Sub: Water-related 7. DESCRIPTION Architectural Classification: Materials: N/A Foundation: Steel Walls: Steel Roof: Steel Other Description: Many fittings are wood and brass Describe Present and Historic Physical Appearance. The lighthouse tender Fir is currently used as an active U.S. Coast Guard buoy tender serving Washington and Oregon. Currently moored on the Seattle waterfront on Lake Union, the vessel serves buoys, lighthouses, and other navigation aids in the Pacific Northwest. Fir also periodically engages in search and rescue, marine environmental protection, and in law enforcement. The vessel is scheduled for decommissioning in October 1991. The Coast Guard is currently working with the nonprofit group, Friends of Fir, to create a plan for the vessel's preservation. [Note: The Coast Guard reported on December 4, 1991, that Fir had been decommissioned in October, moved to the downtown Seattle waterfront, secured, and placed in storage. Legislation is currently being written to transfer Fir to the Friends of Fir, who will maintain the vessel as a floating exhibit on the downtown Seattle waterfront in connection with a proposed maritime museum.] FIR AS BUILT AND MODIFIED Fir is a twin propeller, steel lighthouse tender. She displaces 989 tons, and has a length of 175 feet and a beam of 34 feet. She draws 12 feet of water. Her hull is riveted steel and is 163 feet long at the waterline. The hull is reinforced with a protective steel "rub rail" above the waterline which guards against damage when working with buoys. Fir was built as a coastwise lighthouse tender by the U.S. Lighthouse Service. She was designed to serve the West Coast, replacing an earlier tender, Heather. Her keel was laid by Moore Drydock Company in Oakland, California, in April 1936, and she was launched by the Lighthouse Service, March 22, 1939. The Lighthouse Service was absorbed by the U.S. Coast Guard in July 1939. Fir was commissioned into the U.S. Coast Guard, October 1, NFS Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) 0MB No. 1024-0018 FIR (Lighthouse Tender) Page 4 United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form 1940. Fir was one of three 175-foot tenders, the others being Walnut and Hollyhock. 1 Both of Fir's sister ships were decommissioned in 1982. Walnut was subsequently transferred to the country of Honduras and Hollyhock's fate is unknown. She was most likely scrapped. The fleet of Lighthouse Service tenders once numbered dozens of vessels. In 1925, the Lighthouse Service operated more than 50 tenders in addition to numerous smaller boats used to service lighthouses and lightships. 2 Fir is the last of these vessels to remain in active service. Former Coast Guard commandant, Adm. James Gracey called her "the last of a breed," and a "classic" vessel. 3 Accented with oak and brass, and carrying many of her original furnishings, Fir remains "a classic and hardworking ship. " 4 When built, Fir's power plant consisted of two oil burning triple expansion steam engines and two Babcock & Wilcox watertube boilers. In 1951 these were replaced with twin Fairbanks Morris diesel engines which continue in use today. Fir was the last American steam-powered lighthouse tender to be dieselized. 5 The only other modification to Fir occurred in 1982 when the ship's hydraulic main boom hoist was replaced by an electrically-powered A-frame one. This change did not alter Fir's overall appearance. As has been the custom for more than a century in the Lighthouse Service and Coast Guard, Fir is painted in the traditional lighthouse tender scheme, with a black hull and white superstructure. 6 In recent years the characteristic Coast Guard diagonal stripe and logo have been painted on her sides just aft of the bow. As a classic American lighthouse tender, Fir's exterior has a raised foredeck, buoy well with a large boom, rounded wheelhouse, rub rails for protecting her sides against buoys, and an ample superstructure. Her interior is unique in its intact Lighthouse Robert Scheina, U.S. Coast Guard Cutters and Craft of World War II (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press), pp. 110-111. 2George Weiss, The Lighthouse Service (New York: AMS Press, 1974, 2nd printing) p. 100-101. 3Admiral James Gracey, Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard. Personal communication with the author. 40fficial U.S. Coast Guard public information announcement, 13th Coast Guard District, Seattle, Washington, n.d. 5James Gibbs, Sentinels of the North Pacific (Portland, Oregon: Binfords & Mort, 1955), p. 112. 6Robert E. Johnson, Guardians of the Sea (Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987), p. 166. NFS Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) 0MB No. 1024-0018 FIR (Lighthouse Tender) Page 5 United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form Service district superintendent's quarters, complete with original sofa and wooden frame screen door. Her bridge is amply fitted with wood and brass, and in her wardroom, her builder's plate proclaims she is a U.S. Lighthouse Service vessel. The wardroom overlooks the buoy deck in Lighthouse Service fashion. It is an attractive, well-appointed room, virtually unchanged from the Lighthouse Service era. Elsewhere on the ship, the enclosed main deck passageways are designed in the classic Lighthouse Service style. These and other features distinguish Fir from her buoy tender descendants. 8. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE Certifying official has considered the significance of this property in relation to other properties: Nationally; X Statewide:__ Locally:_ Applicable National Register Criteria: A X B__ C X D_ Criteria Considerations (Exceptions ) : A__ B__ C__ D__ E__ F__ G __ NHL Criteria: 1, 4 NHL Theme(s): XII. Business L. Shipping & Transportation XIV. Transportation B. Ships, Boats, Lighthouses & Other Structures Areas of Significance: Period(s) of Significance Significant Dates Architecture (Naval) 1939 Maritime History 1939 Transportation 1939 Significant Person(s): N/A Cultural Affiliation: N/A Architect/Builder: U.S. Lighthouse Service/Moore Dry Dock Company, Oakland, California NFS Form 10-900 USDI/NPS NRHP Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) 0MB No. 1024-0018 FIR (Lighthouse Tender) Page 6 United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Registration Form State Significance of Property, and Justify Criteria, Criteria Considerations, and Areas and Periods of Significance Noted Above. The tradition of aids to navigation in the United States dates to colonial times. One of the first actions of the new federal government was the establishment of lighthouses. Often built on isolated and rugged shores, lighthouses required a special type of vessel to service and maintain them. These vessels were lighthouse tenders, which, with lightships were the only seagoing aspects of the Lighthouse Service. Lighthouse tenders in the United States date to 1840, and scores of these hardy and distinctive vessels were built by the United States government's agencies in charge of aids to navigation. The U.S. Lighthouse Service built dozens; the 1920 edition of Merchant Vessels of the United States lists 55 tenders. Laid down at the end of the tenure of the Lighthouse Service, Fir was transferred to the newly formed Coast Guard in 1939 when launched.